Knit fabric



L. 'IMBRIANI 2,432,898 l KNIT FABRIC Dec. 16, 194:1.v

Filed May 13, 1946 Patented Dec. 16, 1947 2,432,898 KNIT FABRIC Louis Imbriani, Corona, N. Y., assgnor to Frances Speier, rona, Long doing business as Knitcraft Mills, Co-

Island, N. Y.

Application May 13, 1946, Serial No. 669,379 4 claims. (o1. ca -172) This invention relates to knitted fabrics and more particularly to knitted fabrics in the form of wearing apparel. Where wearing apparel is made of knitted fabric it is frequently necessary `to apply rows of buttons and form button holes in the marginal portion of the fabric but such applications of buttons have not been satisfactory because the knitted fabric being somewhat loose and soft lacked the strength to retain its shape. To overcome this objection the marginal portion has frequently been reinforced by woven material or by knitting the marginal portion of extra width and turning under a portion of the knit fabric so as to provide a marginal portion of double thickness. However, such expedients have been found unsatisfactory both as to appearance of the goods and the cost of the required additional operations. It is an object of this invention, therefore, to provide an improved knitted fabric for use in the making of wearing apparel which has marginal portions of the necessary strength, which can be knit integrally and which does not require the knitting of additional fabric.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a view in elevation of a garment formed of knit fabric in accordance with this invention; and

Fig. 2 is an enlarged diagrammatic view showing the arrangement of the loops of a section of the fabric such as the section outlined by the rectangle in Fig. 1.

In the drawings the invention is shown in connection with knit fabric of which a jacket is formed. The jacket shown is provided with a marginal portion I comprising wales 2 of plain stitches and wales 3 of purl stitches, button holes being formed in the plain stitch wales to receive the buttons 4. The fabric shown was knit on a flat links and links machine but it is to be understood the invention is equally applicable to other stitch arrangements in fabrics knit on other types of knitting machines.

To provide the requisite strength to the marginal portion I, this portion of the fabric is knit of a plurality of yarns simultaneously fed to the needles during the knitting of the wales 2 and 3 while the remainder of the fabric is knit of but one of such yarns. In the knitting of the fabric, the main or body yarn a is supplied to the needles for the knitting of all the wales of a course of the fabric and during the knitting of the wales 2 and 3 an auxiliary or reinforcing yarn b is also supplied to the needles, in plating relation to the main yarn, to be simultaneously knit with the main yarn. In feeding yarns in this manner, the carrier for the yarn a makes a full traverse of the needles knitting the fabric while the carrier for the auxiliary yarn make only a partial traverse and supplies the yarn b to only the needle knitting the Wales 2 and 3.

What I claim is:

1. A knit garment having a body made principally of unreinforced plain stitch wales in combination with a reinforced button hole margin portion comprising a single thickness of fabric knit integrally with the body of the garment of a plurality of yarns in lating relation, there being plain stitch wales in the button hole margin portion in which the button holes are cut, and wales adjacent thereto containing purl stitches, as and for the purpose indicated.

2. A knit garment having a body made principally of unreinforced plain stitch wales in combination with a reinforced button hole margin portion comprising a single thickness of fabric knit integrally with the body of the garment of a plurality of yarns in plating relation, there I being plain stitch wales in the button hole margin portion in which the button holes are cut, and adjacent wales containing stitches drawn through to opposite sides of the fabric, whereby the button holes retain their shape.

3. A knit body garment having a body portion made principally of unreinforced stitch wales in combination with a reinforced button hole margin portion comprising a single thickness of fabric knit integrally with the body portion of the garment of a plurality of yarns in plating relation, there being plain stitch wales in the button hole margin portion in which the button holes are cut, and wales adjacent thereto containing purl stitches, as and for the purpose indicated.

4. A knit body garment having a body portion made principally of unreinforced stitch wales` in combination with a reinforced button hole margin portion comprising a single thickness of fabric knit integrally with the body portion of the garment of a plurality of yarns in plating relation, there being plain stitch wales in the button hole margin portion in which the button holes are cut, and adjacent wales containing stitches drawn through to opposite sides of the fabric, whereby the button holes retain their shape.

LOUISI IMBRIANI.

REFERENCES CITED UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,054,233 Mueller Feb. 25, 1913 1,237,865 Brown Aug. 21, 1917 1,722,639 Mettler et al. July 30, 1929 2,160,373 Struve May 30, 1939 2,254,146 Holmes et al Aug. 26. 1941 2,367,932 Start et al. Jan. 23, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 487,067 Great Britain June 15, 1938 

